Really nice tapinade!

Easy & nice flavor.

The real question is whether it would have been as good with less fancy olives (as ours were from whole food's olive bar).

Recipe:
2 c green olives, pitted
1/3 c whole untoasted almonds
1 small clove garlic, minced
1.5 T lemon juice
1 T capers, squeezed dry
1/2 C fresh basil leaves
1/2 C olive oil.

Blend all but basil in food processor.  Coarsly chop basil and add them to processer and pulse a few times to start breaking them down.  Add olive oil and sprinkle salt, pulse the food processor until it's a coarse paste but with a little texture by the not-entirely-broken-down almonds.

Beef & Broccoli Lo Mein

Another really great recipe!

This one came from:   https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/04/stir-fried-lo-mein-beef-broccoli-recipe.html

A few notes: 
  - Waiting until oil was smoking was important at each of the steps.
  - I omitted the additional oil for the broccoli since there was a lot of beef fat in there already
  - Broccoli only needs 1 min covered after adding water; not 2
  - I patted the noodles dry with paper towels and cut them into shorter pieces.  I think this was a good plan.

Note that this recipe has no spice at all, though is very rich and flavorful.  I might be interested in a version with a little more kick.

Pictures:

Finished product

After cooking just the beef

Noodles getting patted dry

Marinating beef + sauce ingredients

Raw broccoli + noodle package